Intelligence officials believe North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s recent threat to withdraw from his upcoming summit with President Trump may be an effort to delay the meeting; hoping to further conceal his pre-existing nuclear arsenal from American investigators.

According to the Washington Times, the Hermit Kingdom is potentially “hardening” its nuclear program in an attempt to avoid the fate of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was brutally overthrown after voluntarily abandoning his weapons program.

“The North Koreans have this belief they can somehow outsmart the U.S.,” a senior military analyst told the Times. “

“They may be attempting to sanitize their facilities right now while also trying to buy more time for that,” he added.

Kim made global headlines this week when he threatened to pull out from the historic face-to-face meeting with President Trump, saying US war drills in the region were a “rehearsal” for an invasion.

President Trump weighed-in the possibility of a collapse in peace talks Wednesday, saying “we’ll have to see” what happens.